Cheer up Charlton fans! 10 reasons why the collapse of the Zabeel takeover is good news
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By Mirror.co.uk 23/10/2008
Charlton confirmed this morning that Zabeel Investments have pulled out of a deal to buy the club.
The Dubai-based investors, who had also been linked with a takeover of Newcastle, made an indicative offer for the club earlier this month.
A Charlton statement said: "Zabeel Investments has informed Charlton that the decision not to proceed was taken on the basis that its focus moving forward will be on domestic opportunities in Dubai that complement the current Zabeel Investments portfolio.
"This combined with the current debate around foreign ownership of football clubs and the worsening economic climate in the UK contributed to the decision of Zabeel Investments to pull out."
The news will come as a huge blow to the Championship side, who are in the last year of their Premier league parachute payments, have reported debts of £20million and were ready to sell.
But cheer up Charlton fans… it’s not all bad news! Here’s 10 reasons for looking on the bright side:
1) You now don’t have to mill about in the background on Sky Sports News with a tea-towel on your head, like those Man City fans the other month
2) Other fans will continue to look on you with genuine – if patronising – fondness, rather than despise you for being the new Blackburn/Chelsea/QPR/Man City
3) You won’t have to read interminable press stories linking you with Ronaldo. Or Amr Zaki. Or Wagner Love. Or anyone, come to that.
4) You can continue to moan about the price of fuel without having to feel guilty.
5) There won’t be any talk of knocking down the Valley to build a brand new 150 000 seater stadium on the outskirts of Riyadh.
6) Your club’s carbon footprint will be significantly reduced now that businessmen aren’t jetting in from the Far East every week.
7) You won’t have to put up with overpaid stars flaunting their £120k a week salaries in the middle of a credit crunch.
8) You won’t have to change your club’s nickname to the Abu-Addicks
9) Your coffers may be bare, but manager Alan Pardew has a great record with loan signings. Er….
10) No matter how bad it gets, you can still laugh at Tottenham fans.
Its a far cop --- he who last laughs and all that --- and of course at my advanced age i forgot the one, 100%, fact in all of this---its CAFC and how the f**k could i laugh at anyone with out the money in the bank ? not so much egg on face more like 8 egg omlette !
I feel really sad about this, the official reasons for not making a bid are total bollox of course..The final Aye or Nay rested with the man at the top in Dubai and he had been told by London just a week ago that he wouldn´t be allowed to buy a club of his own if one of his sons thru Zabeel took over Charlton as he had the opportunity to "influence" matters.
Sheik Hamdan is not happy and the Zabeel execs rather embarrased about the whole business I´ve been told.
I guess you can google for the bits and pieces that leaked to the media about this.
This really depressed me and I´m not really a CAFC fan so you guys must be really gutted, on a slightly positive note..One of my Dubya mates mentioned that Charlton got a lot of positive publicity in the region and this might be to the clubs advantage in the long run.
Yeah, gutted MCFC, I am rapidly getting over it though! If what you are stating is true then we are better off out of it! Thanks for your comments over the past two weeks. Good luck for the rest of the season.
[cite]Posted By: CHG[/cite]Yeah, gutted MCFC, I am rapidly getting over it though! If what you are stating is true then we are better off out of it! Thanks for your comments over the past two weeks. Good luck for the rest of the season.
You make it sound like I´m leaving, which I will for a few days because at times like this the forum ought to belong the ones closest to the club..But I´m bound to turn up on a semi-regular basis at least.
[cite]Posted By: MCFC[/cite]I feel really sad about this, the official reasons for not making a bid are total bollox of course..The final Aye or Nay rested with the man at the top in Dubai and he had been told by London just a week ago that he wouldn´t be allowed to buy a club of his own if one of his sons thru Zabeel took over Charlton as he had the opportunity to "influence" matters.
Sheik Hamdan is not happy and the Zabeel execs rather embarrased about the whole business I´ve been told.
I guess you can google for the bits and pieces that leaked to the media about this.
This really depressed me and I´m not really a CAFC fan so you guys must be really gutted, on a slightly positive note..One of my Dubya mates mentioned that Charlton got a lot of positive publicity in the region and this might be to the clubs advantage in the long run.
So those that mean in your view that the decision wasn't Zabeel's? And will Hamdan potentially come back?
[cite]Posted By: MCFC[/cite]I feel really sad about this, the official reasons for not making a bid are total bollox of course..The final Aye or Nay rested with the man at the top in Dubai and he had been told by London just a week ago that he wouldn´t be allowed to buy a club of his own if one of his sons thru Zabeel took over Charlton as he had the opportunity to "influence" matters.
Sheik Hamdan is not happy and the Zabeel execs rather embarrased about the whole business I´ve been told.
I guess you can google for the bits and pieces that leaked to the media about this.
This really depressed me and I´m not really a CAFC fan so you guys must be really gutted, on a slightly positive note..One of my Dubya mates mentioned that Charlton got a lot of positive publicity in the region and this might be to the clubs advantage in the long run.
[cite]Posted By: CHG[/cite]Yeah, gutted MCFC, I am rapidly getting over it though! If what you are stating is true then we are better off out of it! Thanks for your comments over the past two weeks. Good luck for the rest of the season.
Hear hear!
Just got back from a foray to London. Heard on the radio this morning that it was off. I must confess to feeling very disappointed. If as MCFC, this has all to do with who's allowed to own who, its sad that we should have been let down in this way. I'm not a lawyer and presumably soundings were taken within the FA/FL/PL regarding differing ownerships etc. I'm left with the feeling that we have been f*cked by the fat cats and bureaucrats who, having allowed some of the most questionable people to run football clubs, with money obtain from god knows where, have decided that they aren't prepared to allow dear little Charlton to join the band of the rich with investors who were properly run and would have been a credit to football in this country. I wonder what stance would have been taken if it was West Ham that Jabeel were trying to buy and either Liverpool or Everton was the one the Head of Dubai wanted to buy? No doubt they would have found a way, within the rules for this to happen.
Still it was nice to have a dream. As AFKA says, nobody died, the club is still well run, it's still as attractive a purchase as it was yesterday and no doubt Murray/Chappell et al will continue to look for new investment. Lets get behind the team and the players and big them up on Saturday. We need a decent result.
[cite]Posted By: MCFC[/cite]I feel really sad about this, the official reasons for not making a bid are total bollox of course..The final Aye or Nay rested with the man at the top in Dubai and he had been told by London just a week ago that he wouldn´t be allowed to buy a club of his own if one of his sons thru Zabeel took over Charlton as he had the opportunity to "influence" matters.
Sheik Hamdan is not happy and the Zabeel execs rather embarrased about the whole business I´ve been told.
I guess you can google for the bits and pieces that leaked to the media about this.
This really depressed me and I´m not really a CAFC fan so you guys must be really gutted, on a slightly positive note..One of my Dubya mates mentioned that Charlton got a lot of positive publicity in the region and this might be to the clubs advantage in the long run.
BA didnt see your post before I posted.
If this is true surely they would have been made aware when the Newcastle and possible Liverpool and West Ham enquireries were made. Were the nice men from Zabeel looking for a back door (Championship) feeder club for Man City. Meaning we would be forever denied the Premiership promised land.
We have had worst things happened to us as a club than this. Time everyone dusted themselves down got behind the club and get this season going again, because it needs to very quickly.
MCFC - thanks for the comments, and thanks for appearing again. I must admit I thought we might have seen the last of you, so pleased that wasn't so. My 'reading between the lines' had led me to a similarconclusion that Zabeel thought they could buy us without that being any impediment to future Dubai investment in a current Prem club. It then maybe became obvious that this would not be the case. As Bing says, sometimes you think there may have been an easy way round it in certain circumstances, but not ours. One rule for some, another for others - Shearer appealing a red card v Osei Sankofa, as an obvious example (wouldn't expect you to understand that one, MCFC...)
[cite]Posted By: SID[/cite]If this is true surely they would have been made aware when the Newcastle and possible Liverpool and West Ham enquireries were made. Were the nice men from Zabeel looking for a back door (Championship) feeder club for Man City. Meaning we would be forever denied the Premiership promised land.
It's all speculation SID. From what MCFC said, and from his earlier posts he seems to have knowledge of how things are done, it seems to me this outcome was highly unlikely. I don't believe they wanted a feeder club, or Zabeel were trying to buy anybody else. I don't believe these people normally pull out of deals that they have set the sights on, (unless they find a flaw in the books during due diligence). To pull out in such a peremptory way smacks of some internal issue within the Dubai heirachy to me.
Given the comments suggesting that DIC were still looking to buy Liverpool and the speculation about West Ham and Everton, I think that the most likely explanation is that Zabeel thought they could purchase Charlton irrespective of other Dubai ruling family controlled companies might want to do with other clubs. Zabeel have denied they spoke to any other club or now intend to buy anybody. I'm sure that's true otherwise they may well be in breach of the confidentiality agreement &/or good faith. That would not preclude any other Company like DIC from still pursuing their targets. My view is somebody high up in the footballing authorities put the kibosh on that, or at least cast a reasonable doubt that it would be allowed. I think the comment regarding "Foreign ownership" is code for that.
Right just got back from some pox business thing in Sydney and what do i find as a birthday present but the dreams over...
But like they say this is not our darkest hour and to be honest could be what we need to unite as aclub again.... it would have felt a bit unnatural to have the proper cream of the world game playing at charlton...and although the dream was exciting it wasnt really us.....
I appreciate that this puts us back to where we never really left, and to be honest Id settled for the fact that are probably in this league for a while...
A win this weekend and the world could be a different place by Monday...
Happy Birthday Mascot and don't let all takeover nonsense ruin your day.
Having had a while to think about it now maybe it's for the best in the long term. At least now, if and when we get promotion and if and when we win a trophy it'll be down to US not some faceless organisation pumping money into the club to shell out on mercenary players who hadn't heard of CAFC before their agent rang them up.
yeah its cool.... it wasnt really us anyway..... if it bacame easy for us to support charlton and we had success bought for us we probably wouldnt like it anyway...
this could be just the tonic to reunight us.... a result this weekend wouldnt go a miss though eh...
Comments
Cheer up Charlton fans! 10 reasons why the collapse of the Zabeel takeover is good news
*
*
By Mirror.co.uk 23/10/2008
Charlton confirmed this morning that Zabeel Investments have pulled out of a deal to buy the club.
The Dubai-based investors, who had also been linked with a takeover of Newcastle, made an indicative offer for the club earlier this month.
A Charlton statement said: "Zabeel Investments has informed Charlton that the decision not to proceed was taken on the basis that its focus moving forward will be on domestic opportunities in Dubai that complement the current Zabeel Investments portfolio.
"This combined with the current debate around foreign ownership of football clubs and the worsening economic climate in the UK contributed to the decision of Zabeel Investments to pull out."
The news will come as a huge blow to the Championship side, who are in the last year of their Premier league parachute payments, have reported debts of £20million and were ready to sell.
But cheer up Charlton fans… it’s not all bad news! Here’s 10 reasons for looking on the bright side:
1) You now don’t have to mill about in the background on Sky Sports News with a tea-towel on your head, like those Man City fans the other month
2) Other fans will continue to look on you with genuine – if patronising – fondness, rather than despise you for being the new Blackburn/Chelsea/QPR/Man City
3) You won’t have to read interminable press stories linking you with Ronaldo. Or Amr Zaki. Or Wagner Love. Or anyone, come to that.
4) You can continue to moan about the price of fuel without having to feel guilty.
5) There won’t be any talk of knocking down the Valley to build a brand new 150 000 seater stadium on the outskirts of Riyadh.
6) Your club’s carbon footprint will be significantly reduced now that businessmen aren’t jetting in from the Far East every week.
7) You won’t have to put up with overpaid stars flaunting their £120k a week salaries in the middle of a credit crunch.
8) You won’t have to change your club’s nickname to the Abu-Addicks
9) Your coffers may be bare, but manager Alan Pardew has a great record with loan signings. Er….
10) No matter how bad it gets, you can still laugh at Tottenham fans.
:)
Sheik Hamdan is not happy and the Zabeel execs rather embarrased about the whole business I´ve been told.
I guess you can google for the bits and pieces that leaked to the media about this.
This really depressed me and I´m not really a CAFC fan so you guys must be really gutted, on a slightly positive note..One of my Dubya mates mentioned that Charlton got a lot of positive publicity in the region and this might be to the clubs advantage in the long run.
You make it sound like I´m leaving, which I will for a few days because at times like this the forum ought to belong the ones closest to the club..But I´m bound to turn up on a semi-regular basis at least.
CYA...;)
So those that mean in your view that the decision wasn't Zabeel's? And will Hamdan potentially come back?
can you post any links you have please mcfc
Hear hear!
Just got back from a foray to London. Heard on the radio this morning that it was off. I must confess to feeling very disappointed. If as MCFC, this has all to do with who's allowed to own who, its sad that we should have been let down in this way. I'm not a lawyer and presumably soundings were taken within the FA/FL/PL regarding differing ownerships etc. I'm left with the feeling that we have been f*cked by the fat cats and bureaucrats who, having allowed some of the most questionable people to run football clubs, with money obtain from god knows where, have decided that they aren't prepared to allow dear little Charlton to join the band of the rich with investors who were properly run and would have been a credit to football in this country. I wonder what stance would have been taken if it was West Ham that Jabeel were trying to buy and either Liverpool or Everton was the one the Head of Dubai wanted to buy? No doubt they would have found a way, within the rules for this to happen.
Still it was nice to have a dream. As AFKA says, nobody died, the club is still well run, it's still as attractive a purchase as it was yesterday and no doubt Murray/Chappell et al will continue to look for new investment. Lets get behind the team and the players and big them up on Saturday. We need a decent result.
If this is true surely they would have been made aware when the Newcastle and possible Liverpool and West Ham enquireries were made. Were the nice men from Zabeel looking for a back door (Championship) feeder club for Man City. Meaning we would be forever denied the Premiership promised land.
Oh well, onwards and downwards upwards.
It's all speculation SID. From what MCFC said, and from his earlier posts he seems to have knowledge of how things are done, it seems to me this outcome was highly unlikely. I don't believe they wanted a feeder club, or Zabeel were trying to buy anybody else. I don't believe these people normally pull out of deals that they have set the sights on, (unless they find a flaw in the books during due diligence). To pull out in such a peremptory way smacks of some internal issue within the Dubai heirachy to me.
Given the comments suggesting that DIC were still looking to buy Liverpool and the speculation about West Ham and Everton, I think that the most likely explanation is that Zabeel thought they could purchase Charlton irrespective of other Dubai ruling family controlled companies might want to do with other clubs. Zabeel have denied they spoke to any other club or now intend to buy anybody. I'm sure that's true otherwise they may well be in breach of the confidentiality agreement &/or good faith. That would not preclude any other Company like DIC from still pursuing their targets. My view is somebody high up in the footballing authorities put the kibosh on that, or at least cast a reasonable doubt that it would be allowed. I think the comment regarding "Foreign ownership" is code for that.
But like they say this is not our darkest hour and to be honest could be what we need to unite as aclub again.... it would have felt a bit unnatural to have the proper cream of the world game playing at charlton...and although the dream was exciting it wasnt really us.....
I appreciate that this puts us back to where we never really left, and to be honest Id settled for the fact that are probably in this league for a while...
A win this weekend and the world could be a different place by Monday...
Having had a while to think about it now maybe it's for the best in the long term. At least now, if and when we get promotion and if and when we win a trophy it'll be down to US not some faceless organisation pumping money into the club to shell out on mercenary players who hadn't heard of CAFC before their agent rang them up.
Onwards and upwards fella.
this could be just the tonic to reunight us.... a result this weekend wouldnt go a miss though eh...
;)
for once we are agreed on something ;-)